After the T20 World Cup 2021, Virat Kohli stepped down as India’s T20I skipper but the selectors also sacked him from ODI captaincy citing that they don’t want different individuals leading the white-ball teams. By January 2022, Kohli gave up the Test captaincy as well following the series loss in South Africa.
While Rohit Sharma replaced Virat as all-format captain, India have seen as many as five other players leading the side across formats.
Due to Rohit’s unavailability, the likes of KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Shikhar Dhawan have stood in as captain in the last 15 months.
Meanwhile, former head coach Ravi Shastri has suggested the Indian team management to consider Kohli for the leadership role when Rohit is unavailable.
However, ex-India spinner Harbhajan Singh has opposed the idea, saying that restoring Kohli as the captain would be like taking a huge step back.
"This will be like taking a huge step back. If you keep moving back, how will you move forward? Not that Virat was a bad captain. Till the time he was in charge, Virat was brilliant. Look at this record – the Test wins at home and overseas – it speaks for itself. He's delivered the results too. But I definitely believe that if Rohit is not playing or is injured or whatever be the reason, we should look at someone else," said Harbhajan while speaking to Hindustan Times.
"If it comes to the one-off match, then yes, Virat can take charge. But not otherwise. If it's a big match like a WTC final, why not? But if you look at a 4-match series where Rohit is not available, then that is the time to invest in a new captain. But if you go back to Virat in a long series, that is not a step in the right direction. Firstly, Virat won't do it, and even if he does, it will send an indication that we haven't prepared the next captain," he added.
Virat Kohli took Indian cricket to greater heights with his captaincy. He led India in 213 matches across formats and won 135 of them, including a Test series victory in Australia, Sri Lanka, West Indies and a number of white-ball series wins across the world.
